Short Summary

West Germany is to grant Rwanda, in Central Africa ten million marks (about GBP 1.4-million sterling) in capital aid, it was announced in Bonn on Wednesday (June 27).

Description

West Germany is to grant Rwanda, in Central Africa ten million marks (about GBP 1.4-million sterling) in capital aid, it was announced in Bonn on Wednesday (June 27). Agreement on the aid came after a meeting in Bonn on Tuesday (June 26) between visiting Rwanda Finance Minister Augustin Munyaneza and West German Minister for Economic Co-operation, Dr. Erhard Eppler. Mr. Munyaneza was on a four-day visit, meeting representatives of countries in Bonn to seek aid.

Rwanda, once part of German East Africa and later administered by Belgium, has an economy based almost entirely on agriculture -- 95 per cent of which is subsistence produce to feed its population of nearly four million. The main cash crop is coffee, but the government is trying to diversify crops grown for export and is concentrating on tobacco, cotton, pyrethrum, forestry and, principally, tea. The ten-year programme is being aided by the European Economic Community.